Exclusive: Bloody “JOY RIDE 3″ Pictures; Kirzinger Speaks!

With the third entry of the JOY RIDE franchise speeding towards DVD/Blu-ray shelves later this month, FANGORIA has an exclusive look at some of the film’s most brutal moments! On top of that, Fango spoke to the new Rusty Nail himself, Ken Kirzinger, about filling the heavy shoes of horror’s most relentless trucker.

Despite being a prolific stuntman in Hollywood, fright fans may know Kirzinger best as Jason Voorhees in the smash-hit mash-up FREDDY VS. JASON. With JOY RIDE 3, the hulking actor is stepping out of his comfort zone to make franchise villain Rusty Nail even creepier. Kirzinger had an exclusive one-on-one with FANGORIA, and even explained his version of Rusty’s mysterious past. Read our Q&A with the actor below and check out the graphic shots from the film…

FANGORIA: JOY RIDE 3 shot in Winnipeg, which is a far ride from where the film is actually set, which is usually in the Southern U.S. Did that at all affect your performance as Rusty Nail?

KIRZINGER: Well, I did stunt work on JOY RIDE 2, which was shot in [British Columbia], so it was good for me to get out of Vancouver and to go somewhere that I wasn’t as familiar with. I think that helped add to my performance. Whenever I take a role, though, I put myself to wherever it says in the script that I am, but it’s nice to have something different around me because I used that to convince myself that I was in the U.S.

FANGORIA: Horror fans know you best as Jason Voorhees in FREDDY VS. JASON, which is one hell of a credit to your name. Did you bring any knowledge or lessons you learned from playing Jason to your version of Rusty Nail in JOY RIDE 3?

KIRZINGER: I really tried to create a separate character here because a lot of people always assume that with every role, I’m emulating the physicality of Jason. Then again, this character isn’t who I am, so there might be some things people recognize as Jason-esque but it wasn’t conscious or intentional. But I’m sure that if they liked Jason, they’ll like Rusty Nail this time around.

FANGORIA: You also appeared in FOX’s WRONG TURN 2; did that previous relationship help when it came to working on JOY RIDE 3?

KIRZINGER: I’m sure that helped, as well as previously playing Jason. The attention and fans I got from those roles will hopefully turn towards Rusty as well.

FANGORIA: If the series is to continue, can you see yourself bringing more to the role of Rusty Nail in the future?

KIRZINGER: I would love to, if there’s enough story there. Rusty has a lot of depth to him, and there’s no official backstory for him so I had to make it up for my performance. Rusty is actually quite intelligent in this version of his story, and the ways he kills people is pretty ingenious. The fact that the character hasn’t been caught in the franchise is another sign of his intelligence.

My backstory on Rusty was that he was either a stockbroker or a lawyer in the city and life became too intense for him, so he decided to chuck it all and become a trucker. That works because he’s a solitary guy and doesn’t want people messing with him. So when people do [mess with him], both the anger and the intelligence come out of him. There’s a lot to play around with in Rusty so I’d love to reprise the role.

FANGORIA: Do you have any other genre projects on the horizon?

KIRZINGER: For the longest time, I was solely concerned on Rusty, so I hope to play him again. But I just did another project that was directed by a stunt guy, Lauro Chartrand, called BLACKBURN. That’s a real low-budget project but it should be a lot of fun to do. I got to work with Brad Loree, who is an old friend, so it felt like a bunch of old buddies on the set of a movie.

JOY RIDE 3: ROAD KILL, starring Ken Kirzinger as Rusty Nail, hits DVD/Blu-ray/VOD on June 17th from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. Make sure to look for more of our exclusive chat with Ken Kirzinger in FANGORIA #334.

About the author

Ken W. Hanley

Ken W. Hanley is the Web Content Manager for FANGORIA, as well as the former Web Editor for Diabolique Magazine and a contributing writer to YouWonCannes.com. He’s a graduate from Montclair State University, where he received an award for Excellence in Screenwriting. He’s currently working on screenplays, a graphic novel and various other projects, and can be followed on Twitter: @movieguyiguess.